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Linda Gray
|birth_place=Santa Monica, California, U.S. |series= Dallas (first series) Dallas (second series) |episodes= }}Linda Gray (born September 12, 1940) is the actress who plays Sue Ellen Ewing on Dallas. Career 'Early life and career' Linda Ann Gray was born in Santa Monica, California. Prior to acting, Gray working as a model in the 1960s and began her acting career in television commercials-nearly 400 of them, and also made brief appearances in the feature films, such as Under the Yum Yum Tree and Palm Springs Weekend in 1963. Gray began her professional acting career in the 1970s, with guest roles on many television series such as Marcus Welby, M.D., McCloud and Switch. She also made appeared on films The Big Rip-Off (1975) and Dogs (1976). In 1977 she was cast as fashion model Linda Murkland, the first transgender series regular on American television on the TV series All That Glitters. The show, a spoof of the soap opera format, was cancelled after just 13 weeks. Gray was then cast as suspicious wife Carla Cord in the 1977 television movie Murder in Peyton Place. 'CBS "Dallas" series' Gray achieving stardom for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing, J.R.'s long-suffering alcoholic wife, in the CBS drama series Dallas (1978-89, 1991). Initially a recurring guest role for the five-episode first series, Gray became a series regular later in 1978 and remained with the show until 1989. Her character was well received by television critics. The Biography Channel said, "Who could ever forget Dallas with the gin-swilling Sue Ellen Ewing, replete with shoulder pads long before Dynasty, staggering around Southfork Ranch with a permanently tearful expression as she suffered the brunt of J.R. Ewing’s evil ways?" The Boulevard Magazine said, "It may be 2009 and seventeen years since the primetime drama Dallas went off the air, but memories of the Ewing family still linger. Corruption and betrayal, lies, greed, affairs and scandal - all were just part of another day at the Southfork Ranch. At the center of it all was one of our favorite Ewings, the person we couldn't help but root for each week as she drank and slept her way through one ordeal after another. This, of course, was the tortured and (sometimes) villainous Sue Ellen Shepard Ewing, former Texas beauty queen and trophy wife of the womanizing rogue J.R. Ewing, played to perfection by actress Linda Gray." Linda was nominated for two Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance on Dallas . She also received numerous international awards including Germany’s Bambi Award, Italy’s Il Gato and she was named Woman of the Year by the Hollywood Radio & Television Society in 1982. 'After Dallas' After Dallas, Gray starred on 1991 comedy film Oscar with Sylvester Stallone and then made guest appearances in British drama Lovejoy (starring her co-star and love interest from her final series on Dallas, Ian McShane). She also starred in several made-for-TV movies, including 1991's The Entertainers (with Bob Newhart), Bonanza: The Return (1993), Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter (1993), and Accidental Meeting (1994). Linda Gray at The Heart Truth fashion show in February, 2011.In 1994, she made several guest appearances on the Fox network primetime soap opera Melrose Place. She appeared in four episodes as businesswoman Hillary Michaels, the mother of Amanda Woodward (played by Heather Locklear). She played a leading role on the Melrose Place spin-off - Models Inc., but the show only lasted a single season. Gray appeared in the Dallas reunion TV movies Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996) and Dallas: War of the Ewings (1998). and in the following years did not appear in movies or on television. In 2001, Gray portrayed Mrs. Robinson in the West End theatre production of Charles Webb's The Graduate. Gray made her theater directing debut with play Murder in the First, and other acting stage work includes Terms of Endearment, The Vagina Monologues, Agnes of God and Love Letters. 'Recent career' Gray returned to television in 2004 as a guest star in five episodes daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, playing Priscilla Kelly. Gray starred in several independent films, including award-winning drama Reflections of a Life (2006), where she played best friend of a woman undergoing treatment for breast cancer, Expecting Mary (2010), The Flight of the Swan (2011) and Hidden Moon (2012). In 2008, Gray appeared in The CW series 90210, which, like Melrose Place and Models Inc. before it, is a spin-off from the original Beverly Hills, 90210. Gray has now appeared in three of the five series in the franchise, though her role in 90210 was not Hillary Michaels, the character she played on Melrose Place (1992) and Models Inc. ''Dallas'' TNT series (2014) In 2012, Gray reprised her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on the TNT drama series Dallas, a continuation of the original series, continuing in the role until the series cancellation in October 2014. 'Personal and family life' Gray was married to Ed Thrasher for 21 years. The marriage resulted in two children: Jeff Thrasher and Kehly Sloane.Linda Gray Biography (1940–), film reference, Retrieved March 31, 2012 Gray also has two grandsons, Ryder and Jack Sloane. Her younger sister, Betty, died in 1989 from breast cancer. Gray is also the aunt (by marriage) of actress Lindsay Wagner, best known as The Bionic Woman. She resides in Los Angeles, California. References External links *Her Official Website Category:Actresses Category:Dallas old series main cast Category:Dallas new series main cast Category:First Series Cast Category:Second Series Cast Category:People